What exactly should "live rock" look like? How do I cycle with it?

[Wishez]

Hi all! Brand new with a 50.3 Waterbox. I did a bunch of research prior, and although overwhelmed by the many ways people suggest cycling, kinda get the gist that you want nitrites and ammonia at 0.
To begin, recently bought live sand, saltwater from my LFS, and what was called "live rock" which was just purplish chunks by the pound from a dry bin. Is this actual "live rock"? Guy at the store said as "soon as it touches water, it starts the cycle". But I've read live rock is from a mature aquarium and has to stay wet.
Went to a different shop for the water, asked how to cycle, and was told "just wait for the water to clear up, get some bottle bac, and drop in your first clownfish pair".

So 2 questions that I can't find a direct answer to (maybe I just suck at googling):
- is that actually "live rock"? What is it?
- how do I actually cycle this tank, given it has saltwater, the rocks, and live sand? The water looks like it came from their actual tanks.

Thank you!

 

[tbrown]

Typically when people say "live rock" it means that it's already nitrogen cycled and should have bacteria and potentially other life on it such as copepods and amphipods. Depending on what they used to seed their live rock tanks it could have sponges, tunicates, little feather worms, etc. The live rock at my LFS sometimes has actual coralline algae already growing on it, but usually it's just the reddish purple rock that has beneficial bacteria and pods.

If you get live rocks from some companies it's rock that they had in a system loaded with life and you could end up with some really neat hitchhikers.

 

[tbrown]

If it's pure white that's when I'd say it's likely not live yet.

 

[Wishez]

Typically when people say "live rock" it means that it's already nitrogen cycled and should have bacteria and potentially other life on it such as copepods and amphipods. Depending on what they used to seed their live rock tanks it could have sponges, tunicates, little feather worms, etc. The live rock at my LFS sometimes has actual coralline algae already growing on it, but usually it's just the reddish purple rock that has beneficial bacteria and pods.

If you get live rocks from some companies it's rock that they had in a system loaded with life and you could end up with some really neat hitchhikers.

Ah, thank you, that makes sense. Do these organisms survive being out of the water for periods of time? The rocks were pretty dry but looked/smelled like they had been submerged at some point

 

[tbrown]

Ah, thank you, that makes sense. Do these organisms survive being out of the water for periods of time? The rocks were pretty dry but looked/smelled like they had been submerged at some point

They'll live if they're damp. Usually live rock is shipped in paper towels or newspaper just to keep itnl humid which is plenty enough for the bacteria.

If the rock is dry and has been dry for more than a day or two I'd say the chances are pretty slim.